Fishwrap (aka National Schismatic Reporter) is squawking that yet another group of women religious in these USA is being called to Rome for a chat. First, the Sisters of Loretto (think Sr. Jeannine Gramick) are summoned to talk about doctrinal and moral concerns. Now, the Sisters of Charity.
Who knows what it is about.
Sr. Teri Hadro, president of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, said her community received a letter from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in early April asking the sisters for written response to the office’s continued concern over the order’s “public dissent of Church teaching.”
“It’s a very friendly letter,” Hadro said. “It’s just that I think they tend to interpret things as dissent that really aren’t dissent.” [And yet it’s time for a chat.]
[…]
“Because we focus on those issues and not on right to life from conception forward, our silence is being interpreted as dissent,” Hadro said. “I don’t think that’s the understanding that women religious have. We probably have the same top 10 values and priorities as the bishops, but in different order. And it seems to me that there’s some beauty in that, because our role in the church is different from that of the bishops.”
[…]
A very nunny answer.
[…]
Hadro declined to share all of the recommendations the Vatican made to her community, but she said one of the recommendations was that the sisters “engage in the study of” Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical, Laudato Si’ — a request Hadro said proves how much miscommunication has happened during the apostolic visitation process.
[…]
You have got to be kidding me. The Congregation told them to read Laudato Si’?
[…]
“I think the European understanding of religious life, the hierarchic understanding of religious life, and the understanding of religious life from inside a women’s congregation in the United States are three different understandings,” she said. “This whole process is a demonstration of what happens when the three parties start to look at the same thing, but not necessarily in dialogue. It’s been complex.”
Right. In other words, they don’t have a clue what religious life is. It stopped the day Perfectae caritatis was signed.
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What a joke! The Loretto sisters nor the BVM’s have no intention of changing their stances no matter how many chats they have. Nor do any of the other LCWR communities. The Apostolic Visitation was a flop, and so are these chats.
We probably have the same top 10 values and priorities as the bishops, but in different order
So no issues of ordinary obedience there then …
You misspelled “Nutty”.
[OK!]
Unless it was the parts condemning “gender theory,” I’d say the Congregation recommending reading LS suggests neither side has a clue o_O
I just bet they won’t get a commissioner or told they pray too much, etc….
The nutty orders are going to die out like the Shakers in the long run, but in the short run I guess we have to find ways to limit the damage that they do, if that is possible in a world where everything seems to be open for discussion.
The Shakers lived by four basic rules:
1. They must live in a community setting.
2. They had to be celibate.
3. They had to regularly confess their sins.
4. They lived separate from the outside world.
They are now down to three members. Hmmmm.
The Shakers and the nuns both are bound by the same logic – the community will perish unless it continues to recruit more outsiders in each generation to join the community. And like the Shakers, the “nutty” nuns simply aren’t convincing very many to join…perhaps severe nut allergies?
A vision of the end is located nearby. There’s a community that was once very large in number (over 500), but who nowadays is reduced to promoting an associate program to any Christian, male or female, who wishes to commit to the mission of the order. They number about 60 now, median age of 80. They’ve already sold their old motherhouse to a developer and built a new, smaller one. Their girls school is closing because only one member still works there and they can’t afford to keep supporting it. While 20 years ago it was common enough to see a nun out and about, nowadays it is far easier to see a hijab than it is to see a veil.
I’ve never read Perfectae caritatis in its entirety, but I do remember that sisters here in the southern US found the old habits almost unbearably hot most of the year. Allowing them a choice was simply an act of mercy, and likely increased the lives of many good sisters.
Certainly there were many changes. But what was not done was to define exactly what a sister should be, her place in the church and in a changing world. A sister needed to be more than a woman doing exactly what she could do otherwise, only as a consecrated celibate. I believe that in many ways Perfectae caritatis was unfinished, and that’s a shame and a tragedy for everyone.
The Shaker communities were refuges for orphans back when adoption was not a business. When adoption became a government type business that sounded the death knell for the Shakers, for who wanted to live that lifestyle for the simple reason of being an orphan.
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In the past, I was part of a young adult group. Part of our mission was to help in vocational support, and once a year we helped with a “come and see” weekend at the local seminary. I cannot count the number of times on one hand the younger ladies present (i.e. 18-30) said they admired the religious orders who wear habits, and literally, said they wanted to know who the “real nuns” were.
Oftentimes, I would take them aside and refer them to the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and the Nashville Dominicans (the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth are a pretty good order too). Now, both these orders are invited to participate in the “come and see” weekend, and the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist are thriving – even having to build a new residence close to Austin, Texas.
I did have a college acquaintenance who spent about a year in one religious order in San Antonio. I recall her telling me (this was the early 90s) that this particular order had some problems with homosexuality, which contributed to her leaving. She married a Catholic man a few years later that she met at the College Student Center, and became a good mom.
Fr. Z: “You have got to be kidding me. The Congregation told them to read Laudato Si’?”
Well, sure. That way they’ll be so busy trying to figure out what the Pope was trying to say that they will have little time for any of their “nunny/nutty” business!